Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Letter from the Pastor’s Desk

Dear North UMC,

At this time of year, we become caught up with preparations – preparations for the Christmas celebration, for visits with family and friends, for gift-giving and receiving. We also look towards a new calendar year with new challenges, new taxes, new discoveries, new inventions, and we wonder if we will be able to keep up with the quickly changing world around us…

For many, part of the anxiety about the New Year surrounds our financial status. Those of us who work think about the increases in demands on our salaries while others wonder about the state of their investment and annuity income. And those of us in the church are involved in annual stewardship campaigns. But stewardship is not a once-a-year issue; nor does it involve just money. Stewardship is a year-round issue, in fact it is lifetime concern (or should be).

Our stewardship is of our lives – all aspect of our lives, for as Christians we believe that we have been entrusted with the care of the whole creation – the earth and everything in it – that we have been given the instruction by the creator to ―dress and keep, and ―replenish the earth (Genesis 1,2). So we are to care first for our selves – body, mind and spirit, and then we are to care for others and for the world around us. That is stewardship. It includes as well, the medium of exchange we use to get goods and services (the dollar) and the value associated with the things we have been given to take care of (land, buildings, transportation mechanisms, tools, instruments, etc).

So that as we enter a season in which we count and give thanks for all our blessings, let us begin with the blessing of life itself and the blessing of the time, our most valuable asset. Then let us give thanks for the people in our lives who accompany us on our journey; and let us give thanks for the earth which yields food and other goods that allow us to enjoy many conveniences of modern living.

But let us also be careful to make decisions that will allow us to ―replenish the earth – to sustain healthy levels of soil, air and water. These decisions (like recycling and using biodegradable and organic products) are the kind that allows each of us to impact the sustainability of the earth. When we make decisions to treat our bodies gently and to get proper rest, nutrition, and health care, we are being faithful stewards of our lives. When we give of our time, our talent and our treasure as faithful stewards to support our faith community we participate in God’s mission, which is to save the world and repair the creation. As we make a commitment to the mission of God through the church, let us step up boldly and renew our commitment to make our community a model community of God’s kin-dom through our stewardship commitment. As we increase our capacity to give, we simultaneously increase our capacity to receive. Let us together see and live into a future of growth in every area of our lives. Let’s make sure to return our commitment cards for 2010 indicating our gifts of GOLD (money) FRANKINSENSE (service, time) and MYRRH (sacrifice).

Blessings,
Pastor Laurel